love advice
by d.wolpertinger
Summary: Angst? Yuzu gets the best love advice of her life.


They threw her into an old, underground aqueduct, barren and abandoned of its original use. Her hands found grasp along unstable blocks with soot and dust painting her fingers, keeping her upright as her legs gave out. It was a cell of circular enclosure and Mei looked up, taking in its height. Block upon block towered above her, their solidness lit by the moonlight, until she saw its opening, barred with cast iron, and the moon looming in its center.

Mei had heard through frightened whispers what this cell was for, its true purpose. All the vampires feared it, but fear was so far removed and did not matter anymore when one was now in it. Her fate was sealed, her existence as fickle as this stone. She would know soon enough about the doorstep she was on, at Hell's gate, come dawn, and she would not cower when it came time to greet it.

She inspected her hands, her gown, now stained of gray powder. Her bare feet were covered in ash, black and soft under her toes. Although dirty, the most putrid thing about this space was the air. It felt heavy, like breathing in the aftermath of a fire. A very grand fire; a Hell she would share willingly with the Devil because of love.

On instinct, Mei felt for the ring upon her necklace, finding purchase on its thin metal. Solace it gave her, that her love would not be sharing in-

The sound of the cell door opening, screeching upon its hinges. caused Mei's heart to drop. The guard that had thrown her in was now throwing in the most beautiful creature of tousled gold and silk.

"No, not her! She doesn't need to see this!" Mei tried in vain, but it was too late. He had already thrown Yuzu down at her feet, closing the cell with a hiss. His voice was cold and sharp, like a tip of a dagger,"You may enjoy one last night together. You should be thanking me, night whore," he spat before his boots echoed through the dungeon chamber.

A broken heart was what Mei came face to face with, falling on her knees and enveloping her lover in a despairing embrace, finding them both surrounded by ash. Yuzu cried in her arms, hot tears warming Mei's pale skin and trailing streams along her neck. "Mei, I'm sorry. I couldn't run. I couldn't let you be alone in this. This is my punishment and it was my selfishness that caused all of this."

"As it was my selfishness, too," Mei returned softly, stroking her soft tresses. "Do not think for a second that the blame is any of yours." Her fingers tangled in her hair, her body moulded to her lover, grabbing the nape of her neck, and she covered the teardrops upon Yuzu's cheeks with gentle kisses, as the girl continued to sob. "There is no blame, as blame would intend that this was wrong. And it was never wrong."

Mei held onto her tighter and in return, Yuzu clung to her, hands gripping firmly into the skin on her back, her cries resounding off the walls to be greeted by the frigid air outside. The thin material, a single fabric that Mei wore loosely upon her figure, whom a human would shiver against the chill, but a sensation she could not entertain to feel. Whereas, Yuzu felt the cold like a blast, as if falling through an ice covered lake. The freezing air pricked at her flesh, tufts of clouds leaving her panicked breath like it was the middle of winter.

Mei tried to warm her with as much body heat as her frame could muster, which was little. After a length, when her crying had calmed, Yuzu asked hoarsely, removing her tearstained face from her lover's neck.

"What is this place?" Yuzu looked around, as Mei watched her, very much in tune with her thinking. "Why is there so much..." she picked up a handful of dust, which fell through her fingers like sand, "of this?"

Mei sat back, answering simply. There was no reason to hide it.

"Because they want me to feel afraid, Yuzu," She said evenly, looking into her eyes.

"Afraid of what?"

"The sunrise." Mei glanced above and Yuzu followed her sight. Her green eyes went wide in horrible surprise at the well's opening.

Mei's heart sank at the gasp her lover let out, looking frightened at her hand that was used to pick up the ashes.

"These are?!" Her lips couldn't move, terrified at the ramifications.

"Yes. Others, like me."

"Oh, no, no, no, Mei~" The tears fell like crystals in the reflecting moonlight, as Yuzu embraced Mei once more, her head under the girl's chin, and her grasp held tightly around Mei's waist. Slowly, and with calm resolve, Mei caressed the crown of her head once more, smiling ever so softly.

"Yuzu, you're so beautiful, even when you're crying."

"Mei, I'm- I'm so in love with you. I can't lose you. I can't-"

"You knew this was a possibility."

"No. I didn't know because it was never meant to be this way."

Before anymore could be said, they touched lips in a desperate kiss. It was something both frantic and delicate. They could taste salt between their lips, and it was torturous to be unable to smile into a kiss with the one they loved most, in such a hopeless situation. Yet still, Yuzu could feel, right at the nape of her neck, how gently, yet how possessively, Mei held her. And yet still, Mei could just gather the shaking that had enclosed upon Yuzu's grip at her waist, how it made it impossible for her fingers to bar a tight enough hold for the other girl's liking.

Yuzu pulled back sharply, grasping Mei's face in her palms, smudging ash against her beautiful cheekbones, inhaling and exhaling shaky breaths. "I want to die with you. Life isn't worth living if you are not by my side," she said with conviction.

"No," Mei returned sharply, eyes piercing, "I won't have it." She resigned to remain strong, impassive to Yuzu's tears, built up from centuries of never showing emotion. Yet, her heart-

"Mei, please."

"No."

"Please, turn me into a-."

Mei covered Yuzu's lips with her own, in another wretched kiss, muffling her words. Even now, she could feel the urge stirring within her. Her hunger, and the desire to bite the delicate flesh of her lover's neck. She could sense Yuzu's heart beating so quickly underneath her grasp, pumping that delicious blood - human blood, and offering it to her.

"Mei~" Yuzu tilted her exposed flesh submissively, the outline of her neck silhouetted beautifully against the pale luminescence of the night. So dangerously tempting, like plucking a rose with a thousand thorns. Her grip tightened around the nape of the blonde's neck, her other hand finding purchase against her corested spine.

"~I love you."

Mei sank her fangs in deep, puncturing two holes along the powerful vein at the curve above her collarbone. Like wounding an animal, Yuzu twitched in shock at first, gasping at the sudden pain, then, once fully inside, it felt oddly relaxing as the pain subsided. Her body went limp at the sensation of her life source leaving her. She moaned placidly, while Mei drank, the vampire's amethyst eyes glowing in ecstasy. Her lover's blood made her feel electric. It was nothing less than euphoric.

But the many years of walking this world alone had properly honed Mei's skills to a fine point. She drew enough blood only to cause Yuzu to go into a fainting slumber, feeling the girl's body lax and taking on her full body weight. Mei retracted, softly licking her lips of the residual blood, the incision clean.

"I'm sorry, my love." Mei cradled Yuzu's sleeping form, a single tear drop glistening down her cheek, tenderly pressing her forehead against Yuzu's temple. Clouds moved in front of the moon, casting them in shadow, but it didn't matter. Mei had been a shadow her entire existence until Yuzu came into her life. If only for a short time. It was only right for her to return to it, eventually.

Delicately brushing Yuzu's bangs away, repeating the movement just to feel her effervescent beauty, Mei stayed like that for hours. The moon slowly shifting to the west, dawn slowly breaking. Its light crept silently down the chamber but Mei's eyes never strayed from Yuzu's face. Even when the cold, crisp air began to warm, and the light gently touched at her feet, Mei didn't move. Nor when it finally contacted her skin, the light now a flame. An evanescent fire, burning the pale of her arms as she held her lover.

In a last farewell, Mei bent down and placed a soft, lingering kiss upon her brow, the sunrise now fully encompassing her.

Some time later, Yuzu awoke. Her green eyes flickered, her body sore like she hadn't moved for eternity. Ash dusted upon her brow and Yuzu let out a wavering exhale, while looking at the peaceful form above her. A statue, it must be, of the most peaceful maiden because how else could Yuzu describe what she saw. The woman's frame was black, so fragile it looked, so the girl reached out to touch the curve of its cheek.

It crumbled in her hand and, instantly, Yuzu felt her heart constrict and her body convulse. Words barely escaped her, as the swelling in her chest began to suffocate.

"Mei."

Without warning, the blonde was forcefully grabbed, dragged to the door. The desolate statue remained, slowly disintegrating, fading into dust and joining the rest upon the ground.

"Mei!" Yuzu screamed, frantically trying to stay in the cell but the guard had her about the waist, sending her away. Down the dungeon he went, as she struggled and kicked, her mind a blank or a whirlwind, all at once. He threw her outside, under the bright sun, and spat in her face.

"If you want my advice, you'd find someone of your own kind, next time."

* * *

**Author's Note:** This little gem was written for Day 7 of the 30 Day Fanfic Writing Challenge of Doom over in Lit Club in the Yuri Garden Discord Server. If you like reading Citrus or other yuri and want to see some of your favorite writer's like Sappho82, Ja55, or a new and up and coming author called angel0wonder write it out, then you should join. There may be smut in the foreseeable future.


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